It's all good in Redmond's hood

Excuse us as we do a double take, the only normal reaction to Microsoft being totally chill with a new build of Windows 10 being leaked to the public before its intended release. We're referring to Build 9901, which contains a whole bunch of consumer-specific features and improvements, not all of them working. It leaked to the web over the weekend, and Microsoft's response is refreshingly relaxed.

Dropbox recently announced the launch of a new collaboration tool for Microsoft Office desktop apps. Now available through the Dropbox for Business early access program, the “Dropbox badge” Office plugin is the first tool to be rolled out by the company as part of the “Project Harmony” initiative that it announced back in April.

A precursor to the Windows 10 Consumer Preview

Microsoft plans to shed light on the consumer side of Windows 10 at a special event on January 21, 2015. If the release of the consumer preview can’t come soon enough for you, there is now a new leaked preview build that you can turn to for some valuable clues as to the kind of consumer experience that the Redmond-based company has in mind with the upcoming operating system.

Buggy updates caused problems with some Windows rigs

It's been a bit of a rough month for Microsoft and various Windows users, at least in terms of software updates. It started with Microsoft telling Windows 10 Preview users to uninstall Office prior to applying Patch Tuesday updates or else the installer would fail. However, it's not only uses of pre-release software who ran into trouble. Microsoft has gone and pulled two security patches because they were causing problems for some users.

Steam gives gamers a taste of CoD:AW and knocks 25 percent off the price

It seems Steam is always cooking up a sale, and come next week, rumor has it the Winter Sale will kick off. In the meantime, you can still find discounts all over the place, though if you'd rather not spend any money at all, be advised that Steam is making Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer free to play for the next couple of days as part of its weekend deal. If you end up getting hooked, you can purchase the title for 25 percent off ($44.99, or $79.99 for the Digital Pro Edition).

The pitfalls of pre-release software

Microsoft's Gabriel Aul of the Windows Preview team tweeted out some inconvenient news to Windows 10 users who have Office installed. In order to install the crop of updates for this month's Patch Tuesday, Windows 10 users will have to first uninstall Office, or the installer will fail. Once all the security patches are applied, users are free to then reinstall Office on their Windows 10 rigs.

Variants of the Turla Trojan for Windows has been found on Linux systems

Security researchers have discovered at least two Linux-based variants of a Trojan that for years has been infecting Windows systems. Dubbed "Turla," the Trojan has been around for four years or more and has infected hundreds of Windows machines in use at government institutions, embassies, military facilities, educational institutions, and research and pharmaceutical companies.

Along with a new OS release comes a new strategy to make money

Things are going to be different with Windows 10 in a number of ways, and all presumably for the better (or so we're hoping and knocking on wood with Hulk-like force). It's not just the features and design that Microsoft is altering, however, but also its business model. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner spoke at a Credit Suisse technology investment conference recently, revealing that his company is looking at new ways of making money off of Windows.

The first Fedora release influenced by the Fedora.next initiative

Fedora 21 is now available to the general public, representing the first OS release to come out of the Fedora.next initiative, which emphasizes increased modularity and flexibility that go beyond the desktop. It's a new vision for Fedora, in terms of the way it's developed and the types of users it's targeting, and with Fedora 21 come three different variants -- Fedora 21 Cloud, Fedora 21 Server, and Fedora 21 Workstation.

Performance improvements and bug fixes galore

Between the holiday sales and promotions that have been going on lately, your wallet or purse is probably significantly lighter than it was a month ago. Hey, tis the season for spending, right? Or perhaps it's giving, which the mood AMD is in these days. Closing out the year in style, AMD just released its Catalyst Omega special edition driver, which it describes as the biggest and best software upgrade it's released this year.